In The End
by jL-dream
Summary: One Shot. AU. TY. Rated T For Language. In the end, after everything is said and done, will all roads lead back to you? I miss you... In my heart, I believe that no matter what road I take, it will lead back to you somehow in the end. Right?


Title: In The End

Author: jL

Pairings: TY

Rating: T for Language

Genre: Romance/Angst

Word Count: 2613

Warnings: None - AU

Summary: One Shot. AU. TY. Rated T For Language. In the end, after everything is said and done, will all roads lead back to you? I miss you. Please tell me it's not over yet and that we still have a chance. In my heart, I believe that no matter what road I take, it will lead back to you somehow in the end. Right?

Edit Notes: (09.27.08) After a year now from the post date, I was re-reading this story, and I noticed mistakes. So I was compelled to fix it and post the new error-free version (or as error-free as I can make it right now. I always find new mistakes whenever I re-read something. Nothing is ever perfect.) I even edited my Author Note. I added about 400 words to the story. There is no plot change. Reviews are appreciated.

Disclaimer: The characters and etc. are not my own, but of Square-Enix.

--

In The End

--

The soothing melody from the piano gradually begins to fill the room. Her body sways to the music as her long slender fingers gently glide over the white and black keys. Each stroke, each pause, each chord she has made, they are made with precision. She plays the notes at the exactly right time and moment, bringing the awe-inspiring tune of the melody to the surface. She does not make a single mistake, even though her eyes are closed. Her whole body is brought into the motion, swaying along with the rhythm. The emotion from the song starts to spread throughout the tranquil atmosphere. The feeling lingers in the wake and it seems as if her soul is bare naked for all to see. The melancholic song continues and a calm settles over the atmosphere. As she plays on, sorrow permeates throughout the room. Gradually, her memories overcome her. A single tear travels down her cheek, and she loses herself in another place and time that is far away from the reality that she is currently in.

--

"Hurry, hurry! Come on," said a small girl about the age of five with soft brown hair, curled at the end as she ran up the hill. She had short chubby legs and a cute cherubic face. Her most beautiful feature on her face were her eyes. Her right eye was like a bright shining emerald, while her left eye was like a sparkling sapphire. She wore just plain old regular clothes, a bright solid soft yellow shirt and a denim knee length skirt.

"I'm coming. Wait up!" said a boy with messy golden blond hair and crystal blue eyes, who was three years older than the girl. He was dressed in a plain white shirt and blue jean overall with one unbuckled strap hanging off in his back. He slowly dragged himself and a bucket full of water up the hill, following after the girl. Water spilled from the bucket as he carried it with him. "Yuna! Hold on."

"Come on, you slow poke!"

"But Yuna..."

"Tidus, it might die if we don't hurry up," sniffed Yuna as she slowly walked back towards him with her head hanging down. Her small hands reached out to grip the handle also. As she made contact with the handle, Tidus looked up into her illustrious eyes. The thought '_I can never deny her anything when she looks at me with her eyes like that' _ran through his mind. Together they carried the bucket up the hill. Once they made it to the top of the hill, they dropped the bucket down onto the ground and Yuna soon cried out, "Yay! We made it. Now where is it?"

Yuna ran away excitedly, leaving Tidus staring after her innocent display. They started searching the ground. Suddenly Tidus looked up at the sky and smiled as the sun set, casting numerous colors on Yuna. It seemed like she was glowing, exactly like an angel. Then he heard, "I found it. Tidus, over here."

Tidus lifted the bucket by the handle and went over to Yuna, who was looking at a small sapling. He leaned over and looked at it, too. He slowly tipped the bucket and poured the water over the plant. Yuna watched with delight, exclaiming, "Look! It's growing. Tidus, look!"

She looked up to his eyes, smiling, as he smiled down on her. At this moment, with her eyes shining, Tidus made a promise to protect her innocence no matter what happens in life.

-

"Yuna," a voice says as a hand lands on her shoulder. "It's time."

Yuna, now a woman of twenty five with a slender body and long flowing brown hair dressed with a nice white dress shirt and knee length black skirt tied with a sash, slowly regains her sense as her body jerks to a stop due the sound and touch of another person. She whips her head around to see who is talking to her as her fingers still over the keys. "Huh?"

"Doctor's appointment." A young woman with long sleek braided black hair and soft red eyes dressed with a navy silk dress shirt, first few buttons unbuttoned, along with a nice black slacks smiles back gently at Yuna.

"Oh! I totally forgot Lulu," says Yuna as she hastily gets up off the piano bench.

"Here. Let me help you," declares Lulu as she holds onto Yuna by the arm and hands her a cane. Lulu then helps her walk by gently leading her away from the piano and towards the doorway. "Careful now. There's a step coming up."

--

Yuna steps out of the small office building into sunlight, holding her cane in her right hand. With her eyes covered by sunglasses, she turns her head up toward the sunlight as the wind gently blows her hair away from her face. She whispers to herself as she inhales and exhales the air, "The winds... it feels nice..."

Suddenly, a jerk to her right shoulder shatters her moment of peace as she falls forward onto her hands and knees. She turns her head towards the movement. She hears a soft mumble of 'I'm sorry' as the sound of footsteps slowly disappears in the distance. She leans her body back so she will be able to sit on her heels. Then she lightly brushes the dust off of her skirt with her hands. She checks herself over for injuries. She realizes that her hands are scratched, but she is very lucky that none of her scratches on her hands is bleeding. Then off to her side, she hears someone shyly says, "Here. You drop this."

She looks up toward the direction of the man's voice and then it dawns on her. Her sunglasses are not over her eyes anymore. She panics and reaches her hand out frantically to get it. He meets her hands halfway and puts it in her hands. He watches as she quickly puts them on and guilt immediately fills his body. He hears her softly say 'thank you' as he helps up on her feet. He nods his head and says 'no problem' as he walks away. She turns toward the direction of his voice only to face his back as he is walking away.

On the other side of the street is Lulu. She quickly rushes over to Yuna when she sees a mysterious man, dressed totally in black, helping Yuna up. "Are you alright?" questions Lulu when she reaches Yuna. She grabs a hold on Yuna's arm, frantically scanning over the streets, the red brick firehouse, the bustling cafe with patrons outside eating, the small cozy coffeehouse across the street and the white office building in front of them, hoping to get a glimpse of that man. However, the mysterious man dressed in black is gone._ 'For a minute there, I thought it was he. I really hope it's not. I don't know how Yuna would have taken it if it was'_, Lulu thinks in her mind..

"Lulu, I'm fine. I'm not a little kid anymore." Yuna smiles softly at Lulu. "Come on. Let's go home."

The two ladies walk over to the bus stop with Lulu guiding Yuna's movement. Lulu's eyes are still secretly scanning the streets, but this time, she is scanning more calmly than before. Yuna, not knowing what's going, holds onto Lulu's arm with a smile on her delicate face. Yuna's left arm is looped together with Lulu's right arm and in Yuna's right hand is the white cane. Lulu asks, "How was your doctor's appointment? Did he say anything new?"

Yuna smiles faintly at Lulu and replies, "Lulu, everything is fine. Nothing changed."

"What about yo--?"

"Lulu, nothing changed. Everything has stabilized already and it seems like it will stay that way for the rest of my life."

"Yuna…" Lulu softly responds.

"It's okay, Lulu. It has been…" Yuna says, with a faraway look on her downcast face._ 'So long since you left. I miss you so much. Where are you?'_ runs through her mind. "I've learned to live with it and as you can see, I'm perfectly fine, Lulu," Yuna smiles up at Lulu and Lulu smiles back at her as they continue walking to the bus stop. Lulu's eyes are still scanning the surrounding streets for a glimpse of the mysterious man dressed in black that supposedly helped Yuna when she fell. Yuna suddenly looks over her shoulder with a small frown on her face, thinking she has heard a faint murmur of her name.

In the alleyway, the man from earlier leans against the wall and stares at the two women, waiting at the bus stop. A faint smile can be seen on his face. He softly whispers her name, 'Yuna', not knowing the wind carried it over to her. He notices that her face is as beautiful as he remembers when she turns her head towards his direction. He realizes that she has not change in seven years. Slowly, he turns away and walks into the darkness of the alley as he reminisces about that fateful night that changed everything.

--

It was a dark night and the storm had just started brewing in the distance. The wind was blowing fiercely and dark gray clouds loomed over the horizons. Once in awhile, thunder could be heard and lightning could be seen in the sky. Rain was falling heavily, making sounds of plops everywhere. A group of three guys stepped out into the storm from a dark and dingy bar. They were shouting incoherent things and singing loud and off key. It seemed as if they were drunk. They walked over to their red sport car and the guy with gravity-defying orange hair tossed the keys to the one with spiked blond hair. They got into the car and the blond haired guy started the engine. The third guy with the messy golden blond hair who sat in the passenger seat, blasted the stereo system. "Yo G. That was a hella tight party. Thanks man. I would never forgot this birthday."

"No prob, T. You've just turned twenty-one. You have to go out and celebrate. Live a little, man. Don't you think so, Wakka?"

"Hella yeah, Gippal! Besides, I don't think he would be done celebrating yet. Yuna's probably waiting for him at his house," replied Wakka.

"Oh, yeah. Man, T. You're so fucking lucky."

"Yeah I know. I can't wait till I see her. Shit, she's probably at home now. It's away past her curfew," said Tidus as he glanced at the clock, showing that it was 3:00 am in the morning.

"Tidus, that girl would do anything for you. I doubt a little curfew would stop her from seeing you on your birthday, man."

"Yeah, I hope so. I really want to see her. Man, I sound so whipped..."

After a while, he said, "Shit, slow down man," as he eyed the speedometer that read 70 mph in a 35 mph residential zone.

"Don't worry man. I got everything under contr— Fuck!" as a pole seemed to have come out of nowhere. He gripped the wheel and swerved a sharp right onto the sidewalk. The headlights lit up a portion of the street, where a girl was seen walking. As she turned her body towards the lights, she became face to face with the car. She screamed as the car hit her head on.

"Shit, Gippal," said Tidus as he got out of the car and went towards the fallen girl. As he got closer, fear gripped his heart. He knew that girl. He stopped mid-step as recognition of the girl with matted bloody light brown hair and a pale white dainty hand with a distinct silver bracelet visible to him from his angle of view had finally dawned on him. The moment of recognition became a moment forever engraved in his heart and in his mind. The joy of turning twenty-one where he felt nothing could stop him with the belief 'the sky was the limit' turned into a moment of despair and misery. He felt like he lost everything in his world. This became a moment that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

"YUNA!!"

He quickly ran over to her and held her in his arms. He gently rocked back and forth together with her slowly in his arms. Tears could be seen streaming down his face. "This can't be happening. Fuck! This can not be fucking happening. Somebody call a fucking ambulance! Call fucking a ambulance!"

--

As he wakes up from his memory of that night, he looks around and notices the lemon tree on top of the hill. He smiles faintly at the memory of how it came about and all the time he and Yuna came to water it. He bends down and picks a wild daisy from the field. He leisurely strolls over to the tree trunk and sets it down. "For you, Yuna. I'm always with you."

"Tidus?" asks a sweet voice behind him. He whips himself around and sees Yuna, standing there, a cane in her hand, sunglasses over her eyes, carrying a basket full of daisies with the sun setting in the background just like all those years ago along with all those numerous colors lighting her up. She drops everything she was holding onto the ground as she reaches her arms out, hoping to touch him. "Tidus, is that really you?"

He looks at her sadly. She demands again louder this time if it really is he. "Tidus, please say something. I don't blame you. It wasn't your fault. It was none of you guys' fault. Please forgive yourself."

"Yuna, how could you not blame me or us!? We shouldn't have went out drinking that night. We shouldn't have driven that night, especially not when we were drunk. We shouldn't have done so many things that night. And because of our stupidity, you lost your eyesight, Yuna," he shouts angrily at the sky, at the circumstance, at himself, but never at her. His eyes soften as he stares at Yuna. Water accumulates in his eyes, yet no tear falls from his eyes. He softly murmurs, "God, Yuna, I'm so sorry. I can't do this. I have to go."

"Please don't. Stay. I waited so long for you and I'm still waiting. I'll always be waiting for you. You know you left before I even woke up in the hospital. I didn't know where you went or how you were. I was so worried about you. I didn't even get a chance to tell you that I don't blame you. I'll never blame you," She pleads as tears freely flow from her eyes and down her cheeks. She slowly sinks down to the ground onto her knees. "Don't leave me again please. I love you."

He looks back at her and he hates the sight he sees. She is just sitting there on the ground like she had given up all hope with a million of her tears streaking down her cheeks. He slowly walks over to her and as his footsteps gradually become louder, she looks up towards the sound. When she spreads her arms out for him, he runs into them and hugs her tightly. He never wants to let her go again. Never again. Now in her arms once again, he promises himself that this time around, he will protect her at all cost even if it costs him his life. A tear rolls down his cheek from his eyes, and he whispers into her ear, "I love you, too."

--

The End

--

A.N.: I wrote this story as an extra credit assignment for my senior English class two years ago, but now after extensive editing (original was 1500 words with a lot of grammar errors -shudder-, now it is over 2000 words), it is being posted. I'm not sure if it is any good, but I thought it was pretty decent story. It took me awhile to think of this storyline and it was through the inspiration of Yuna and Tidus from FFX of course and also the music video for Kiss: Because I'm a Girl (Not the song, just the video part). The title is from Linkin Park, "In the End" (just song title and not the lyrics... considering I don't know what the lyrics are about and I'm too lazy to look them up... Maybe later.) This is my first fanfic and probably my last not my last anymore. I wrote another one since writing is not really my thing. Hope you enjoy this story. :) Reviews would be appreciated, but not required.


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